10200604

Image Processing Apparatus, Image Processing Program, Image Processing Method, Microscopic System

PublishedFebruary 5, 2019
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

Patent Claims
12 claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.

1

1. An image processing apparatus, comprising: an image conversion unit that converts a first picked-up image and a second picked-up image into frequency components, the first picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of an observation target object with first illumination light via a microscope optical system, the second picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of the observation target object with second illumination light via the microscope optical system, the second picked-up image having a contrast in a low frequency band lower than that of the first picked-up image and a contrast in a high frequency band higher than that of the first picked-up image; and an image generation unit that combines a low frequency component of the first picked-up image and a high frequency component of the second picked-up image with each other to generate a composite image.

2

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first illumination light is narrow band light in a wavelength band longer than that of the second illumination light, and the second illumination light is narrow band light in a wavelength band shorter than that of the first illumination light.

3

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the first illumination light is red light, and the second illumination light is blue light.

4

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first illumination light has an illumination NA lower than that of the second illumination light, and the second illumination light has an illumination NA higher than that of the first illumination light.

5

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image conversion unit converts the first picked-up image into a spatial frequency area image to generate a first spatial frequency area image, and the second picked-up image into a spatial frequency area image to generate a second spatial frequency area image, and the image generation unit generates the composite image from a low frequency area of the first spatial frequency area image and a high frequency area of the second spatial frequency area image.

6

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the image generation unit generates a combined image obtained by combining the low frequency area and the high frequency area with each other, and generates the composite image by converting the combined image into a spatial area image.

7

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the image generation unit generates a low frequency component image obtained by converting the low frequency area into a spatial area image and a high frequency component image obtained by converting the high frequency area into a spatial area image, and generates the composite image by adding the low frequency component image and the high frequency component image to each other.

8

8. An image processing program, comprising: an image conversion unit that converts a first picked-up image and a second picked-up image into frequency components, the first picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of an observation target object with first illumination light via a microscope optical system, the second picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of the observation target object with second illumination light via the microscope optical system, the second picked-up image having a contrast in a low frequency band lower than that of the first picked-up image and a contrast in a high frequency band higher than that of the first picked-up image; and an image generation unit that combines a low frequency component of the first picked-up image and a high frequency component of the second picked-up image with each other to generate a composite image.

9

9. An image processing method, comprising: converting, by an image conversion unit, a first picked-up image and a second picked-up image into frequency components, the first picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of an observation target object with first illumination light via a microscope optical system, the second picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of the observation target object with second illumination light via the microscope optical system, the second picked-up image having a contrast in a low frequency band lower than that of the first picked-up image and a contrast in a high frequency band higher than that of the first picked-up image; and combining, by an image generation unit, a low frequency component of the first picked-up image and a high frequency component of the second picked-up image with each other to generate a composite image.

10

10. A microscopic system, comprising: an illumination lamp that applies first illumination light and second illumination light; a microscope optical system; an imaging unit; and an image conversion unit that converts a first picked-up image and a second picked-up image into frequency components, the first picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of an observation target object with the first illumination light via the microscope optical system, the second picked-up image being obtained by picking up an image of the observation target object with the second illumination light via the microscope optical system, the second picked-up image having a contrast in a low frequency band lower than that of the first picked-up image and a contrast in a high frequency band higher than that of the first picked-up image; and an image generation unit that combines a low frequency component of the first picked-up image and a high frequency component of the second picked-up image with each other to generate a composite image.

11

11. The microscopic system according to claim 10 , further comprising: a focus adjustment mechanism that adjust a focal position of the microscope optical system; and a control unit that controls the focus adjustment mechanism to cause the microscope optical system to focus on the observation target object under irradiation of the first illumination light, and cause the microscope optical system to focus on the observation target object under irradiation of the second illumination light.

12

12. The microscopic system according to claim 10 , further comprising a control unit that controls a light amount of the first illumination light and the second illumination light so that exposure of the first picked-up image and exposure of the second picked-up image match.

Patent Metadata

Filing Date

Unknown

Publication Date

February 5, 2019

Inventors

Hirokazu Tatsuta
Suguru Dowaki
Eriko Matsui

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Cite as: Patentable. “IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING PROGRAM, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, MICROSCOPIC SYSTEM” (10200604). https://patentable.app/patents/10200604

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